The escalation of resistance to antibiotics once useful for treatment of bacterial infections resulting from pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermis, and Enterococcus faecium is problematic in the United States and Europe (Drugs Exp. Clin. Res. 1994, XX, 215-224; Am. J. Surg. 1995, .5A (Suppl.), 8S-12S; Drugs, 1994, 48, 678-688; and Current Pharmaceutical Design, 1996, Vol.2, No.2, pp175-194). Thus, the development of new broad-spectrum synthetic and semi-synthetic antibacterial compounds is the subject of constant current research.
One such class of compounds are synthetic oxazolidinones, exemplified by eperezoid and linezolid, which constitute a class of orally active, synthetic antibacterial agents (Current Pharmaceutical Design, op. cit.).
U.S. Pat. No. 6,040,306, the disclosure of which is hereinafter incorporated by reference into this specification, also teaches the use of oxazolidinones for treatment of psoriasis, arthritis, and toxicity due to chemotherapy.
Given these and other reports on the therapeutic benefit of oxazolidinone antibacterials, the loss of activity among antibacterials which were once efficacious for treatment of certain Gram-positive bacteria, and the continuing need for treatment of a diseases such as psoriasis, arthritis, and toxicity due to chemotherapy, there is a continuing need for the development of novel oxazolidinone drugs with modified or improved profiles of activity.